No more big-budget films from George Lucas

London, Jan 19 (IANS) Filmmaker George Lucas is upset how Hollywood studios refused to fund his latest movie “Red Tails”, and says he is retiring from making big-budget films.

He feels studios refrained from funding his film as it had an African-American cast, reports nytimes.com.

Ultimately, the creator of the “Star Wars” films had to finance “Red Tails” himself. The movie is being released in US cinemas Friday and tells the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, a pioneering group of black pilots, who fought in the second World War.

“I figured if I could get the prints and ads paid for by the studios that they would release it. I showed it to all of them and they said ‘No. We don’t know how to market a movie like this’,” said the 67-year-old veteran.

“It’s because it’s an all-black movie. There’s no major white roles in it at all. It’s one of the first all-black action pictures ever made,” he reasoned.

Lucas also said one of the studio’s officials didn’t even turn up for the screening.

“Isn’t this their job? Isn’t their job at least to see movies? It’s not like some Sundance kid coming in there and saying, ‘I’ve got this little movie - would you see it?’” he said.

His retirement from big projects might also be a result of a backlash received from fans for making changes to the “Star Wars” films. But he is nonchalant, and decided not to make anymore.

“Why would I make any more, when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?”

Now he has decided to make “personal films” - “small in scope, esoteric in subject and screened mostly in art houses”, said the report.